Alan Johnson gets emotional victory at Canandaigua

The 2013 racing season finally got under way this past weekend as three tracks in our area swung open the gates and got to have some fun on the clay. Canandaigua Motorsports Park, Fonda Speedway and Five Mile Point Speedway all got shows in the books and beat Mother Nature on what were some cold nights of racing.

At Canandaigua, the two-day Jan Corcoran Memorial saw some great action and a driver who really needed something good to happen standing in victory lane on Saturday. Alan Johnson was coming off a terrible offseason during which he lost both his dad and his son-in-law, so you know he was hoping for a good day at the track, and that's exactly what he got.

After starting inside row eight in 15th position, Johnson cracked the top 10 in just five laps. By the halfway point of the 64-lap race, he was in fifth and gaining on the leaders.

"It was awesome, " Johnson said. "I got toward the middle of the race, I was riding around and I didn't know if I had anything for those guys. But the car maintained, and those guys seemed to slow down a little bit."

But his car was less than perfect.

"We just had a loose race car with the track getting a little rough in (turns) three and four, " Johnson said. "It was good on the bottom in one and two. It kind of played into our hands having a loose car. We didn't really want it to be that loose but hey, you know, I can't complain."

He was third behind Jimmy Phelps and early race leader Larry Wight when they encountered slower traffic. Johnson scooted by both with nine laps to go, and just moments after they crossed the start/finish line on lap 55 a yellow flag waved.

Wight moved by Johnson by the time they got to turn two, but the rules state that whoever is in front on the last scored lap is the leader, so Johnson was given the top spot, although he didn't know it at the time.

"I didn't even know that I had the lead, " Johnson said. "Then the yellow came out and they said, ‘10 up front.' I didn't expect that. Now I've got to try to hold these guys off. The car just ran good. It was smooth. It was just real smooth through the corners."

In the final laps, Johnson took off from the field and won by a comfortable margin over Wight and Phelps. As his family stood with him in victory lane, he spoke briefly about his victory as the emotions started to sweep over him.

"It is an emotional one, you know, '' he said. "I just have to thank everybody involved."

At Fonda Speedway, Stewart Friesen's streak of bad luck continued for the second week in a row. After running out of fuel in the final corner while leading at Bridgeport, Friesen had a flat while leading on Saturday. That allowed former track champion Matt DeLorenzo to inherit the lead and take the victory.

The next track to open in our area is Fulton Speedway, which has the Methanol Meltdown on tap for this Saturday.